


Before My Heart Gives Out

by EchoShimmer



Series: Wumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Blood Loss, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, I was very mean in this one, Major Character Injury, Serious Injuries, Tim Drake Dies, wumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoShimmer/pseuds/EchoShimmer
Summary: Tim manages to activate his Comm after he is severely injured.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: Wumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948924
Comments: 10
Kudos: 266
Collections: Works good enough I will definitely reread





	Before My Heart Gives Out

**Author's Note:**

> This one was written for [Mizuphae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizuphae)! This ended up exactly as angsty as I expected it to, so be prepared for feels and check the tags if you haven't already.

It had been a normal night, or as normal as things get in Gotham. None of Gotham’s major players were currently making any noise, Bruce’s kids were all in town and split up for patrol (except for Damian and Dick, who were together tonight). No one was sick or injured. Everything was good.

Bruce should have known that such a calm night could only be a precursor to disaster. Little did he know that this was about to turn into one of the worst nights in his life.

It started when Red Robin’s Comm line clicked on after a couple hours of silence. Tim had mentioned earlier in the night that he was investigating a new drug ring and intended to spend a few hours staking out one of their warehouses in hopes of getting more information. Batman had been expecting Red to check in again right around this time.

As soon as Red’s voice came over the line, though, Bruce could instantly feel his heart sink through his chest in dread. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

“...B?” Red- Tim- rasped quietly. He cut off into an alarmingly wet cough for a moment that sent chills down Bruce’s spine before trying to speak up again, slightly louder. “Batman?”

Batman instantly found himself skidding to a halt on the closest rooftop, quickly reaching to flick his own Comm on.

“Red? Where are you, what happened?” He had to fight to keep his voice relatively calm, trying to stop himself from panicking before he even had all the details. But just the sound of Tim’s voice alone was sending off all of his “BatDad senses”, as Dick would say.

“Uh…” Tim managed, and then there was a long enough pause that Bruce got honestly worried that his son wouldn’t answer. Eventually, slightly slurred, came the response that confirmed Bruce’s fears. “I’m not- I’m not entirely sure. Everything is really… fuzzy? I was staking out the warehouse, and then- I think it was a trap? That seems right. They figured out I was onto them somehow. And they- they surprised me, and I passed out, and now I’m tied up in some sort of storage container, I think?”

It only took about half of Tim’s rambling explanation for Bruce to begin swiftly poking his wrist computer to try and bring up his son’s tracker. By the time Red trailed off again, Batman was furiously trying to turn the device on remotely. It wasn’t working- had the tracker been damaged somehow? How was that even possible?

“Red, focus for me. Are you hurt?”

“Yeah,” Tim admitted, voice fading slightly again. “At least t-two GSW’s to the torso, I think. I can’t remember exactly. It must have been close range, got through… through the armor. I can’t get my hands free to try and stop the bleeding. Barely managed to get the Comm on. I- I think I messed up, B.” And,  _ oh _ , how Tim’s voice broke a bit on the last sentence. That’s it, Bruce was officially panicking.

“It’s alright, kiddo. Hang on for a second, we’re all going to come find you, alright? Just let me get them all on this line.” 

Just a few clicks later, and Batman was speaking to everyone. He didn’t bother trying to sugar coat the situation any, knowing that all of his kids and allies would be able to pick up the edge in his voice right away. He was well past the point where he could keep up his classic false calm. 

“Batman to everyone, we’ve got a code red. Red Robin is heavily injured and I can’t get his tracker up.” Someone, one of the boys, swore loudly over the cacophony of concerned, overlapping voices that cut off as soon as Bruce started talking again. “O, keep trying to get a location, the rest of us are going to split up and sweep manually until then. Check all the docks and warehouses, he’s in some sort of shipping container.”

Batman spun in place and headed to the most likely nearby location, mentally running through a checklist to try and figure out what to do next. He had to try and stay logical, he couldn’t let his emotions take over his thoughts.

“Red? Keep talking to us kiddo. Don’t fall asleep.”

“I dunno what- what to say,” came the slurred reply. Bruce could practically hear the heavy breaths everyone else on the line took in at Tim’s voice, the severity of the situation fully kicking in. Surprisingly, it was Damian who answered first. 

“I’m sure there’s something you haven’t told us already. What about your trio of meta’s? I’m sure they’ve gotten up to some shenanigans recently that you haven’t mentioned yet.”

“Yeah. Yeah that works,” Tim said after a moment. “Actually, I was at the Tower last weekend and Kon hadn’t- hadn’t ever seen ATLA before. S’not cool.”

“A true travesty,” Batgirl agreed quickly. “Please tell me you corrected this mistake immediately.”

“Yeah, we all had a marathon that night. Got through the whole first season, gonna keep going next weekend I think. It was fun. We all started talkin’ ‘bout what kinda bender everyone would be. Bart said…”

Like that, they kept Tim talking for around thirty minutes as they all searched through the city, one of the others occasionally piping in when Tim flagged to steer the conversation in a new direction. It worked for a time, but Tim’s voice was steadily growing more and more strained. 

Eventually he broke off again and started coughing painfully enough that Bruce physically winced at the sound. His breathing went even more ragged over the line as he struggled to get it steady again. After a few moments of strained silence, Hood spoke up. His voice had taken on an edge of uncharacteristic concern at his brother’s decline.

“Keep going, baby bird. What did Tam say back?” Tim hesitated to respond, and once he did it was clear that he was struggling as he suddenly redirected the conversation.

“You- you know I love you, right?” Tim said suddenly, his breath stuttering as he struggled to wrangle the energy to talk. “You’re all the best. Without you, I don’t know-”

“No!” Dick said quickly, fiercely. Bruce could practically hear the tears in his eyes. “Red, Timmy, stop. You’re going to be fine, okay?” 

“S’okay, N,” Tim said instead of agreeing. He sounded so  _ tired _ , and Bruce’s dread was growing all the more for it, the ache like a physical stab wound to his heart, urging him to search through buildings all the faster. “I always figured I’d go out on the job. Thought it’d be some sort of sacrifice move, but I guess this is okay too.”

“No, Tim,” Bruce said desperately, long past caring about code names at this point. “We’re going to find you. You just have to hang on for a little bit longer, alright?”

“Love you,” Tim said again instead, barely audible over the rushing of wind past Batman’s cowl. Then he stopped responding altogether.

“Tim!” they all tried hopelessly. “Timbo, Red, Timmy, say something sweetheart!” but there was nothing. Barbara came back less than a minute later, her voice strained with the stress and dread that they all were feeling.

“I’ve managed to get the tracker up. Hood is closest now, I'm sending the location to all of your GPSs’. Move fast, be careful.” 

Batman’s wrist computer lit up with the map and cross streets, and he was taking off in that direction before he could even fully process what it said. His brain was stuck in a loop of panic and response, logical thought seemingly thrown out the window as he sprinted across the city as fast as he could physically move.

He arrived at the warehouse mere minutes after Hood, throwing the main door open without care as he strode swiftly towards the already-open storage crate among others that the tracker was summoning him to. When Batman rounded the corner Hood looked up, his bared expression helpless as he desperately pressed an already red-soaked bandage against the stomach of the smaller boy on the floor in front of him.

In that moment, Bruce knew as well as Hood did, as well as they all soon would. They were too late.

**Author's Note:**

> There's no fic for tomorrow, but tune back in on Monday for one that should make all my Lazarus!Tim AU readers happy ;)


End file.
